Group of Five conferences
In college football, the term Group of Five is an informal term which refers to five athletic conferences whose members are part of NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The five conferences are American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, Mid-American Conference, Mountain West Conference, and Sun Belt Conference.
The Group of Five conferences are five of the ten conferences in NCAA Division I FBS. The other five FBS conferences are informally known as the Power Five. In addition, a number of schools compete in FBS as independents in football; all except BYU and Notre Dame are considered part of the Group of Five.
The terms Group of Five and Power Five are not formally defined by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and the precise origins of the terms are unknown. However, each of the ten conferences are named in the NCAA's Division I manual. A notable difference between the Group of Five and Power Five are designated areas of institutional autonomy granted to member institutions of the Power Five conferences.
The Group of Five is often considered disadvantaged as to the Power Five, as its constituent members do not have similar access to New Year's Six or College Football Playoff bowls. It has historically been an ongoing area of contention among NCAA Division I schools since the BCS era. Since 2014, a team from one of the Group of Five conferences is guaranteed a spot in one of the New Year's Six bowls.
In sports other than football, conferences outside of the Power Five are known as mid-major conferences.
Current conferences and teams
The ten current FBS conferences are listed below. For the Group of Five, the football members of each conference are also listed. Six of the seven independent NCAA Division I FBS teams are listed in a third table.;Group of Five Conferences, Divisions, Teams
;Power Five conferences
| Power Five conferences |
| Atlantic Coast Conference |
| Big Ten Conference |
| Big 12 Conference |
| Pac-12 Conference |
| Southeastern Conference |
;Independent
| Independent Teams |
| Army |
| BYU |
| Liberty |
| NM State |
| UConn |
| UMass |